It was very unfortunate that my experience wasn't simple and didn't go as it should've
This is the story of my own experience of medical abortion at 9 weeks pregnant. Before going through my own abortion I read numerous stories on this website regarding other ladies experiences and I found that it helped and prepared me in some sort of way, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience.
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In total I had four appointments at the hospital over a period of 3 weeks, the first one was for a scan and to discuss my situation with a nurse who documented my reasons for wanting an abortion.
I then had to return one week later to see a consultant who went over my reasons, discussed contraception and signed my paper to say she agreed for me to go ahead with the procedure.
The third appointment (Monday) was to start the process by taking the first tablet (which stops the pregnancy from continuing) called Mifepristone. The nurse handed it to me with a glass of water, once I had taken the tablet I was free to leave and had to return on the Weds for the procedure. I was told I may bleed a little or experience slight period type pains, but I did not experience anything.
As I left the hospital after taking the first tablet I had tears in my eyes, it was upsetting as I knew that the process had begun and there was no way of going back.
Wednesday came around quicker than I thought it would, I got to the hospital at 8 am, I had my own room and bathroom which ment I had my own privacy. I was given ten minutes to unpack my bag and what not before the nurse came in to begin the procedure.
I packed comfortable clothing and my slippers as I wasn't sure how long I would be there for and wanted to be as comfortable as possible. The nurse came in and asked me to lay down on the bed & relax, she placed four tablets (misoprostol) vaginally to soften my cervix, this did not hurt but just felt a little uncomfortable.
I had to stay on the bed for 1 hour to allow the tablets to stay in place & to work, 20 minutes after the tablets were placed I began to experience slight pain but nothing I couldn't cope with.
One hour passed, I got up & started walking around as I was told this would help speed things up, I was given paracetomol as the pain in my stomach got a little worse.
Six hours passed and I had not passed the pregnancy, I was bleeding a little bit but not like I should have been, I was in pain but like I said it wasnt unbearable, I dealt with it. The medication gave me really bad runs, which I found quite embarrasing having to do everything in a bed pan for the nurses to check.
After six hours the nurse said she needed to examine me to see what was happening, she explained sometimes the medical abortion does not work, or my cervix may have closed up, in which case I would be allowed to go home and would pass the pregnancy at home in the next three days or so.
The thought of having to go home and pass it alone really upset me, I had expected for all of this to have been over and done with in hospital and I would have left feeling relieved it was over with.
The nurses wheeled in some equipment and instruments and gas and air, at this point I got really upset and began to panic, she said she wanted me to use the gas and air as what she was going to do was going to be uncomfortable and not very nice.
I began using the gas and air even before she started examining me as I was so scared and did not want to feel any pain. The nurse inserted a Speculum to view my cervix, at this point I was quite merry from the gas and air and felt reasonably relaxed.
She began removing bits of tissue with some sort of delicate forceps as my cervix had not opened up enough for the fetus to come out naturally. She then asked me to do a big cough, I coughed that hard that I ruptured the sac the baby was in, everything shot out of my cervix, fluid, tissue and blood covered my legs, the bed & the nurses. She continued cleaning remaining tissue out of my womb and around the neck of my cervix before removing the speculum.
I lay there in shock, not really knowing what had just happened to me as I was away with the fairys on the gas and air, which I must say is good stuff, I would not have been able to cope if the nurse had not given it to me.
I instantly felt better and the pain had instantly dissapeared, I was of course very shaken but pulled myself together. I had to stay at the hospital for a little while following the ordeal as my temperature had shot up. The nurse put a cold towel round my neck, gave me paracetomol and sat me in front of a fan.
Whilst I was sat recovering the nurse sat and talked me through what had just happened, she told me she had managed to remove everything including the fetus and I should experience bleeding for up to 3 weeks. I was given two lots of different anti-biotics to help prevent any infection.
I found the nurses to be friendly and professional and I am very greatful for what they did for me that day. I know for other women reading this my experience sounds awful, which I'm not going to lie it was, which is partly my reason for wanting to share it.
I have been as open and honest as I could have been and I wanted to stress that a medical abortion is not always as straight forward as it is made out to be, everyone's bodies are different and don't always do what they are supposed to do.
I was very unfortunate that my experience wasn't simple, it did not go as it should have done and how I expected it to go. Having said that, I'm still here to tell the story, this only happened recently and my recovery seems to be going okay.
I want to add that for someone to go ahead with an abortion you really need to be 100% sure it is what you want because to go through such a horrible experience and come out of the other end not knowing wether you made the right decision would be a terribly sad thing. As upsetting as my ordeal has been I know that it was the right thing to do for me at this point in my life and now the only way I am looking is forward.
I hope my story helps others.
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